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Good morning everyone! Another game, another Twins win! Be sure to check out my thoughts on the game below. Before starting on baseball, I have to mention two other things. First, last night was the premiere of The Biggest Loser. Minnesota is represented in the top 14! Secondly, tonight is the first episode of Grey's Anatomy for the season. I will not be missing that!

But today, I wanted to bring back an old statistic that I really haven't seen much of lately. Today, stats such as Win Shares, and VORP, and EQA are found all over the blogosphere. I'm right there with people who don't believe that the basic, old-time stats mean everything, but I also can not completely grasp the value of the new, more elaborate statistical measurements are really telling us either. I enjoy reading them all, and think that they could have a lot of meaning. But at the same time, I think that the other numbers matter too.

Not all .300 hitters are the same, and I certainly acknowledge that. But what is a Run Producer? The object of the game is to score runs, right? For the offense, the job is to score runs, and for pitching and defense, the job is to prevent runs. So, being able to produce runs with the bat is obviously important to a hitter and to his team. So, I am going to just quickly take a look at the numbers of the hitters (through Tuesday's game) and see who has produced the most runs this year. To do so, I am returning to an old, very simple formula. I think that the results will surprise you.

So, instead of developing a formula to determine just how many runs a hitter should statistically account for, we will be looking at how many runs they have actually produced. We will factor in how many runs a hitter scored, and how many he drove in. It will deduct the number of home runs as it is a duplication (a hitter gets both a run scored and run batted in for a home run, yet just one run scored). Make sense? It's an easy formula. Anyone can figure it out. It doesn't take one of those intimidating scientific calculators to figure out. It won't tell us who the MVP is, although you could use it if you want. I mean, if you think that a hitter's job is to produce runs, then this formula should factor in to some degree.

I know exactly what you are thinking, "Seth, you don't really think that RBI is a very important stat." To that, I say that it isn't that they aren't important. If there is a run to be scored, it is important to drive it in. The reason that I don't really use it that often is because, unless you hit a home run, you need teammates on base to get them. So it is a factor of other players. Likewise, unless you score a run on a home run, you do not score a run unless a teammate drives you in, the defense commits an error or there is a wild pitch or passed ball.

Anyway, I just thought that the stat is somewhat interesting, fun and telling. I think that the results are interesting too, and I will post some thoughts on them after the numbers are shown. So, here are the Top 25 hitters in the American League according to "Actual Runs Produced" (again, through Tuesday night's games):

Rk	Player	R	RBI	HR	RP
1	Jeter, Derek SS NYY	110	95	14	191
2	Rodriguez, Alex 3B NYY	106	116	34	188
3	Ortiz, David DH BOS	107	129	49	187
4	Morneau, Justin 1B MIN	90	124	33	181
5	Hafner, Travis DH CLE	100	117	42	175
6	Ibanez, Raul LF SEA	91	110	27	174
7	Dye, Jermaine RF CHW	97	118	43	172
8	Sizemore, Grady CF CLE	125	69	24	170
8	Young, Michael SS TEX	89	95	14	170
8	Cuddyer, Michael 3B MIN	92	100	22	170
11	Guerrero, Vladimir RF ANA	88	111	30	169
12	Tejada, Miguel SS BAL	95	94	22	167
13	Damon, Johnny CF NYY	111	77	22	166
13	Thome, Jim 1B CHW	105	102	41	166
15	Konerko, Paul 1B CHW	92	105	32	165
16	Giambi, Jason 1B NYY	89	109	36	162
17	Teixeira, Mark 1B TEX	90	98	28	160
17	Glaus, Troy 3B TOR	99	96	35	160
19	Matthews, Gary CF TEX	98	78	19	157
20	Youkilis, Kevin 3B BOS	97	72	13	156
21	Wells, Vernon CF TOR	86	101	32	155
22	Mora, Melvin 3B BAL	92	78	16	154
23	Swisher, Nick RF OAK	97	88	32	153
24	Ordonez, Magglio RF DET	73	97	22	148
25	Guillen, Carlos SS DET	91	75	19	147
25	Cabrera, Orlando SS ANA	88	68	9	147
25	Mauer, Joe C MIN	79	79	11	147
25	Blalock, Hank 3B TEX	75	88	16	147

So, you saw that Justin Morneau and Michael Cuddyer were in the Top 8 in the AL in Actual Runs Produced. Joe Mauer ranked 25th in the league, but was the #1 catcher. Where did the rest of the Twins hitters come in using this equation?

Player	HR	R	RBI	RP
Morneau, Justin 1B MIN	33	90	124	181
Cuddyer, Michael 3B MIN	22	92	100	170
Mauer, Joe C MIN	11	79	79	147
Hunter, Torii CF MIN	27	77	86	136
Castillo, Luis 2B MIN	3	82	48	127
Punto, Nick 2B MIN	1	68	43	110
Nevin, Phil 1B MIN	21	53	65	97
Bartlett, Jason SS MIN	2	43	28	69
White, Rondell LF MIN	7	32	34	59
Ford, Lew OF MIN	3	35	15	47
Tyner, Jason OF MIN	0	28	17	45
Kubel, Jason RF MIN	8	23	26	41
Batista, Tony 3B MIN	5	24	21	40
Stewart, Shannon LF MIN	2	21	21	40
Redmond, Mike C MIN	0	17	23	40
Rodriguez, Luis O. 2B MIN	2	10	5	13
Rabe, Josh OF MIN	3	8	7	12
Tiffee, Terry 3B MIN	2	4	6	8
Sierra, Ruben DH MIN	0	3	4	7
Casilla, Alexi 2B MIN	0	0	0	0

Do you have any thoughts on the Actual Runs Produced leaders or the Twins? Let me know what you think. E-mail me, or leave Comments below.

At 9:22 p.m., the Twins had come all the way back and were officially tied for 1st place in the division. Think about that for awhile. How far was this team behind the Tigers in mid-June, or even as recently as mid-August. Sure, the Tigers went on to beat the White Sox about 40 minutes later. Here are some quick thoughts on the game:

Do you have any thoughts about the Twins? Is this the craziest, most exciting season ever?! E-mail me, or leave some Comments.

Rk	Player	R	RBI	HR	RP
1	Beltran, Carlos CF NYM	121	114	40	195
1	Atkins, Garrett 3B COL	108	114	27	195
3	Pujols, Albert 1B STL	112	128	46	194
4	Cabrera, Miguel M. LF FLA	108	110	25	193
5	Howard, Ryan 1B PHI	100	140	57	183
6	Utley, Chase 2B PHI	119	90	28	181
7	Abreu, Bobby RF NYY	91	99	12	178
8	Holliday, Matt LF COL	105	100	29	176
8	Wright, David 3B NYM	90	110	24	176
10	Reyes, Jose B. SS NYM	117	77	19	175
11	Jones, Andruw CF ATL	93	114	35	172
12	Lee, Carlos N. LF TEX	96	109	34	171
13	Bay, Jason LF PIT	97	106	34	169
14	Berkman, Lance 1B HOU	87	122	41	168
15	Rollins, Jimmy SS PHI	115	73	22	166
15	Uggla, Dan 2B FLA	103	89	26	166
17	Ramirez, Aramis 3B CHC	86	110	35	161
18	Soriano, Alfonso 2B WAS	112	93	45	160
19	Zimmerman, Ryan 3B WAS	79	98	18	159
19	Rolen, Scott 3B STL	89	91	21	159
21	Sanchez, Freddy 3B PIT	83	81	6	158
22	Delgado, Carlos 1B NYM	87	108	38	157
23	Furcal, Rafael SS LA	107	62	15	154
24	Johnson, Nick 1B WAS	99	77	23	153
25	Ramirez, Hanley SS FLA	111	52	13	150