That's a Big 10-4, Roger

Twins 5, Tigers 4

Cuz we got Joe Mays on the mound
Ain't that a beautiful sight?
We got Joe Mays on the mound
He's gonna pitch... all night!

Remember the days? The Twins marketing department started airing that radio jingle in the Spring of 2002, sung to the tune of the theme from Convoy, which is not only a fun, kitschy tune but it also tells the story of one of the great, kick-ass movies of the '70s. And I say that as a man who has his own DVD copy of Sense and Sensibility and recorded Carrington off the cable last week. A guy who doesn't appreciate Emma Thompson is only half a man, I say. Likewise, Convoy. I hear that tune and I'm feeling stoked and ready to outrun the smokies, good buddy, and back in the early days of Oh Two I felt particularly kopacetic to be reminded that "we got Joe Mays on the mound." Damn right, that was a beautiful sight.

See, Joe Mays in Oh One was one of the best pitchers in the American League, maybe even the best. He just nipped Mike Mussina for the top Adjusted ERA in the league. He was third in Innings Pitched, fifth in WHIP, and Bill James' Win Shares rates him as the most valuable AL pitcher that year. He was a workhorse who kept the ball in the infield for 7+ innings, game after game, and if the Twins offense in 2001 had given him just decent run support he very well could have won 25 games. If he'd been a marquee name or pitched for a respected team that year, he might have won the Cy Young award--instead of the undeserving, walking hormonal imbalance from the Yankees who probably had never even seen an Emma Thompson movie until the last Harry Potter came out. It felt good to hear about Joe Mays and the Rubber Duck in the Spring of 2002. The Twins were gonna rule the Central with that rotation of Mays-Radke-Milton-Reed-Lohse, and the kid Santana looked pretty hot in spring training as well. Nothing but blue skies and open road ahead.

Then, of course, almost immediately Mays hurt his elbow, and the radio jingle had all the current relevancy of a CB radio in the age of the worldwide web. Mays pitched through his injuries until midway through the next season, when he finally made way for Johan Santana in the rotation in June 2003 and admitted he needed surgery shortly thereafter. (Btw, Aaron mentioned this in his blog, but I had the same thought when I heard Bert praising Mays for pitching through his injuries in 2002-3. Why is that "to his credit," Bert? Seems willfully reckless and stupid to me. See, this is one reason I don't really trust the club to do the right thing with Carlos Silva now, until they prove otherwise.) After a long rehab, he's back; with Carlos Silva on the shelf with his knee injury, Joe Mays is as relevant to the Twins' hopes for success as ever.

He seemed mostly on his game last night against the Tigers. A bit wild, walking four batters, but maybe some wildness and unpredictability can work to Mays' advantage. If he's not going to strike out batters with dominating stuff, some wildness might give him the edge he needs to keep batters off balance and guessing. Mostly he kept balls on the ground and didn't get hit hard. Even the run in the first inning was driven in with a "seven-hopper" (in the words of Dick Bremer) through the 2nd baseman's area which Luis Rivas should have fielded if he hadn't been shaded so far towards 1st base and/or so slow to react to it. In fact, the hit was so weak that Jason Bartlett was able to get over from the SS position to knock it down, on the RF side of the dirt cutout. Still, Rivas could only get close enough to wave at the ball.

So I'm giving Mays a break on that run in the first inning. He only screwed up on an 0-2 pitch to Craig Monroe, a lousy hitter who seems to hit a home run in every series against the Twins. Clearly there are cosmic forces at work in that case, beyond our understanding or Joe Mays' power to control them.

It was an encouraging start, and the rest of the season should be an interesting test case of the Law of the 4.5 K/9 Line: that being that it's prohibitively difficult, if not downright impossible, for a pitcher to sustain a consistent level of success, without relying on a wicked knuckler, when his strikeout rate is below 4.5 per 9 innings. Mays' strikeout rate has dropped every year since he was a rookie in 1999, flirting with the 4.5 line with a 4.74 K/9 in his great 2001 season, and sinking well beneath it in the subsequent two years while he was hurt. Can he reverse that trend this year? Will it be good enough if he can just get back to that 2001 rate again? How successful can he be if he can't get many eager hackers swinging and missing?

Just some thoughts to keep in mind as we track him through the season. Last night was an encouraging beginning--and 3 K's in 5 IP represents a 5.14 K/9... swell! I'm rooting for you, Jo Jo. Keep on truckin'. OVER!