Friday, August 05, 2005

Offense?

Good lord. Something amazing has happened. Don't look now, but the Twins scored runs. Lots of them. And yea, against an important contending team, the Boston Red Sox. A 12-0 blowout was the result of Friday nights game and based on the resulting traffic I dealt with exiting Minneapolis at 10:30, I'd say people were excited to see them win. Brad Radke had an impressive start and despite a bad start to the first, with a Johnny Damon triple, he got out of the first without damage after he struck out Edgar Renteria, Manny Ramirez, and Jason Varitek. Seven shutout innings and a season-high eight strikeouts gave Radke a much deserved win. Radke's 3.71 ERA and his impeccable control this year should overshadow his not-so-glossy 7-10 record, thanks to the otherwise worthless Twins offense.

However, tonight was a different story. Let's run through it all:

* Lets first get by with the easy runs. The Twins put a few runs up early after a hideous throw and error by Boston's starting pitcher Bronson Arroyo.

* The 3, 4, and 5 hitters produced for once. Joe Mauer went 3 for 5 with three runs and three RBIs after having a terrible last couple games. Matthew LeCroy, who's value is questionable, was 3 for 4 with an RBI double and Jacque Jones also was 3 for 4 including a two-run homer off of Jeremy Gonzalez in the eigth. And Terry Tiffee, who pinch-hit for LeCroy in the eigth, scored a run after an two-run double. So, in total, that's a 10 for 14 night with 8 RBIs and 7 runs from the 3, 4, and 5 hitters. Impressive night for sure.

* Otherwise, Lew Ford was the other big hitter of the night, going 3 for 5 in the leadoff spot with three runs scored. It would be nice if the Lew Ford of 2004 finally appeared on the Twins strastosphere.

* Micheal Cuddyer, on another note, didn't do so well offensively, going 1 for 4, but also made his 14th error of the year. Ugh. The defense has to be the core of the team with pitching if they want to go .500. I just don't see this kind of nightly production in the future. The core has to be solid and then they really need to get hitters. It was nice to see a win, but I don't know about getting my hopes up. Johan Santana has the ball tommorow and that should prove to at least be a ball in our court.

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