Let’s maybe throw something other than a fastball every so often.

(via Fangraphs)

They’ve both thrown 8-inning, 2-hit shut outs. Blackburn threw an 8.2 inning gem in Seattle yesterday afternoon, walking two and striking out six, getting yanked after walking Chone Figgins to put the tying run on with two outs in the ninth. Brian Fuentes came in, made Russell Branyan look like a doofus, and the Twins now have a 4.5 game lead in the AL Central. Johan Santana, well, Johan set a new franchise record for strikeouts in a single game with 17, though he only lasted eight innings (Joe Nathan pitched the ninth, recording two more strikeouts). Santana’s performance was more masterful, with a game score of 95 (Blackburn’s was 84), and it came against a much tougher lineup than the 2010 Mariners, who may have the worst offense of all time. Blackburn’s performance is still pretty impressive though, especially considering how awful he’s been up to this point and how unlikely it is for Blackburn to 2-hit anybody. Blackburn’s ERA has now dropped to 6.02, and he’s given up more than a hit per inning in each of his three major-league seasons. He lead the league in hits allowed last year, with 224, and is on pace to do it again this year, with 158 in just 119.2 IP. The fact that he held his opponents to just two hits is pretty remarkable, whether they are historically inept or not.

Perhaps Blackburn’s performance is more meaningful than Santana’s when put into context. The Twins are in the midst of a tight pennant race and needed a good performance from one of their worst starters in order to put some distance between the second-place Sox. They now have an 88.4% chance of clinching their sixth division title in ten years (according to Coolstandings.com). When Santana nearly no-hit the Rangers, the Twins were barely clinging to a .500 record and all but eliminated from post-season contention, trailing first-place Cleveland by six games. This game would turn out to be the highlight of an otherwise lost season. The Twins would finish with their first losing record in six years, 79-83, nearly eighteen games out of first place. Blackburn’s performance, while not as dominant and not of any real historical significance, helped his team increase their lead in the division by a game. Obviously, it’s not Santana’s fault that the 2007 Twins weren’t any good, and this year’s team has been succeeding despite Nick Blackburn, rather than because of him, for most of the season. All of this only proves that baseball is a crazy game.

No, Manny isn’t a Southsider yet, but it seems to be just a matter of time. The Dodgers sit 10 games out of first place, and 4.5 games out of the wild card, and they’ll need to sweep the Rockies this weekend and hope the Padres, Phillies, Giants, and Cardinals collapse and, yeah, they’re not going anywhere. Manny will be in Chicago by Tuesday. What this means for the Sox and the pennant race, after the jump.

There is no doubt that the addition of Manny Ramirez makes the White Sox better. Their .333 weighted on-base average is 8th in the American League and their .159 isolated power ranks 7th. And this is in a notorious hitters’ park! They’ve gotten decent production out of Carlos Quentin (.358 wOBA) and Alex Rios (.348), while Paul Konerko is having a monster .412-wOBA-and-.262-ISO season, but they have five regular players with a wOBA less than .320: leadoff hitter Juan Pierre (.319), Omar Vizquel (.317), Gordon Beckham (.304), DH Mark Kotsay (.300), and A.J. Pierzynski (.286). They’ve gotten particularly poor production out of the DH spot; their .315 wOBA ranks ninth in the AL, behind the Orioles (.387), Red Sox (.368), Twins (.362), Yankees (.356), Rangers (.355), Indians (.335), Tigers (.322), and Royals (.318). Manny Ramirez, despite the injuries he’s suffered this season, is still one of the premier hitters in baseball. He’s batting .313/.404/.513 with a .394 wOBA and .200 ISO, and punishes left-handed pitching to the tune of a .432 slugging percentage. That is a huge upgrade over Mark Kotsay, who is batting .233/.307/.382 overall with a .056 wOBA against lefties. According to Fangraphs, he’s been a 1.4 WAR player for the Dodgers, but that’s mostly because his horrible defense (-5.4 UZR, -19.1 UZR/150) detracts from his overall value. The White Sox won’t have to worry about him as a liability in the field, as he will only play in the field on an emergency basis. Combined with their strong pitching both in the rotation ( 3.83 FIP) and bullpen ( 3.79 FIP), and the Sox should make things interesting down the stretch.

Unfortunately for the Sox, even with the addition of Ramirez, they are still looking up at one of the best teams in the American League. No really, it’s true: the Twins are one of the best teams in the American League. If you favor more traditional stats, their .279/.343/.433 line trails just the Yankees and Red Sox, and their pitching staff boasts the fifth-best ERA in the AL, at 3.94. If you favor more advanced stats, well, the Twins look even better. Their .341 wOBA trails, again, just the Yankees and Red Sox, though their .154 ISO is towards the middle of the pack . There are only two regular players with wOBAs less than .320, and the third, Nick Punto, who lost his starting job to Danny Valencia (.358 wOBA) before going on the DL. Every single regular player has a wOBA of at least .330, and five are at least .350: Valencia, Delmon Young (.356), Joe Mauer (.380), Jim Thome (.416), and Justin Morneau (.446, though he hasn’t played in nearly a month). And this is all despite playing in a pitchers’ park (the home run rate at Target Field is just 0.65 per game). The pitching is pretty good too, with the starting rotation boasting the best FIP (3.83), xFIP (4.00), and K/BB ratio (3.16); while the bullpen ranks third in FIP (3.83) and K/BB ratio (2.35), and 8th in xFIP (4.36). It’s no wonder why the Twins currently lead the division by 3.5 games, and currently have an 85.9% chance at winning it according to Baseball Prospectus. The Sox have the better bullpen, though they recently lost both J.J. Putz and Matt Thornton to the DL, but the Twins are still the better team in every other facet of the game. The addition of Manny Ramirez improves Chicago’s postseason chances quite a bit, but they will still need an epic, 2009 Tigers-esque collapse from the Twins to get there.

Erin is a contributing writer for Twinkie Talk. You can follow her on Twitter, or email her at erinm725 [at] gmail [dot] com.