Santana Rocks the Socks

Johan Santana continues to prove one thing to any doubters: He is the best starter in the bigs. Seven innings, 10 Ks, and several suprised A.J. looks later, the Twins have themselves a victory. Of course, when the score is 10-1, you can't exactly discount what the offense did last night.

From Santana's great start to Justin Morneau's two-run dinger to start the scoring in the second to Nick Punto's incredible play to end the game, the Twins had an all-out great showing against the top competition in the Central.

But if Johan Santana is the Cy Young of the game, Luis Castillo is the MVP. Sure, Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau's homers were impressive. In fact, its great to see them hit with power to center. Especially Morneau, which is a sign that he may really be developing into a power presence. However, Castillo gets top honors. For one, he was 3-for-5 with 3 RBIs and a run scored. But more importantly, it was the way he got his RBIs.

His biggest hit came in the fourth, with the bases loaded and two outs. Castillo worked the count full against Chicago starter Jon Garland before driving a pitch to the opposite field for a two-run single. Later in the eighth, with side-arming lefty Boone Logan on the mound, Castillo showed off his power from the right side with a RBI double. He is now hitting .345 with 18 RBIs.

Also, I should note that Michael Cuddyer made a great play in the first. This is not to discount Punto's incredible play to end the game, but Cuddyer's throw to get Pablo Ozuna out at third when he led off the game with a double was a great display of his arm. He really looks pretty solid out in right and I am hoping he gets more and more comfortable out there.

There is not really too much more to say. Johan looked great and continued his domination of the White Sox. The Twins bats came alive against the Sox. Even Tony Batista managed to get his first home run in a month. What we have to hope is that this continues into today's game, where the Twins will face Javier Vazquez, who is having a very solid season for the White Sox since being aquired for Chris Young in the offseason. The hope is this can start momentum against the Sox and Brad Radke can produce his second quality start of the year.