The Twins' four-year run of losing seasons has coincided with the four worst seasons of hitting with runners in scoring position during manager Ron Gardenhire's tenure. The trend bottomed out last year, but 2014 is the second-worst such season; still, the Twins have raised their average by 11 points in August. Here are the Twins' batting averages with runners in scoring position and their team leaders (minimum of 100 plate appearances) in that category since 2002:
YearTeam BATwins leaderLeader's BA
2014 .242Kurt Suzuki .326
2013 .225Brian Dozier.307
2012 .252Joe Mauer .372
2011.248Jason Kubel .324
2010 .285Delmon Young .355
2009 .278Joe Mauer.367
