Victory At Last!

Spring training game results mean nothing, but it was still nice to see the Twins get into the win column with a 4-2 victory over the Devil Rays yesterday after starting their exhibition schedule on a five-game winless streak. Carlos Silva got the start and posted some encouraging numbers, allowing just one hit and no runs over three innings while getting four outs by the way of groundball and three by the way of strikeout. This should be an interesting spring for Silva, who comes in looking to find the formula for success that made him an outstanding pitcher in 2005. He got shelled in his first start last Thursday, but yesterday's game provides a good reminder that little can be based on one spring outing.

On a negative note, Matt Garza faced just two batters in the fourth inning before having to leave yesterday's game with an apparent aggravation of the strained neck that has seemingly bothered him since the start of spring training. Joe Christensen relayed a message from Cranky Pat Reusse indicating that the injury "was just a stiff neck and the team is just being cautious." Hopefully that's the case.

Finally, today marks the one-year anniversary of the death of Twins legend Kirby Puckett. Christensen penned a nice article for the Star Tribune about the man Puck mentored, Torii Hunter, and Hunter's mentorship of the possible heir in center field, Denard Span.