Ah, so refreshing... a nice, respectable victory. The Twins didn't need anyone to drop a fly ball in the bottom of the ninth last night, and they didn't need Michael Young to commit three errors. Nope, they got a win the good old-fashioned way. They scored early and rode a top-notch pitching performance to their 75th win of the season.
The Twins scored single runs in each of the first three innings, then added another in the form of a seventh-inning solo shot by Jason Kubel. Meanwhile, Matt Garza pitched into the seventh inning for the first time since August 14, tossing 6 1/3 inning while allowing six hits and two runs (one earned). He struck out five and walked none. The bullpen added 2 2/3 innings of scoreless ball and the Twins left town with a quiet sweep of the lowly Rangers.
At 75-77, the Twins are only two games away from the .500 mark with 10 games remaining, but methinks they'll have a tough time finishing the season with a winning record. After finishing up their home schedule with a three-game set against the White Sox this weekend, the Twins will hit the road for a three-game series in Detroit and then a season-ending four-game series in Boston.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
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4 comments:
"methinks they'll have a tough time finishing the season with a winning record"
Indeed, even if Santana pitches at the top of his game and wins three times (that would be this Friday vs. CHI, midweek vs. DET and a possible season finale vs. BOS#), and Silva, Bonser, Baker, Garza and Slowey also get quality starts and pitch as well as they can, the hitting is the area that has to step up. You have to figure that the Tigers and RedSox, with playoff positions still undecided, will be going all out. Can the Twins can rise up and be spoilers?
# The 4 game Twins-RedSox series may be huge.
In the last 2 months, both NY and BOS have played 57 games.
Since July 20:
NY 39-18 .684
BOS 33-24 .579
In this span, the Yankees have picked up six games and now trail Boston by just 1 1/2 GB.
Boston has 9 games left -- 3 games with TB (season series: 11-4 Sox), 2 with Oakland (season series: 4-2 A's) and 4 with Minn (season series: 2-1 Sox). Three games on the road are followed by six at home.
NYY's 10 remaining games (and no days off after today): 4 games vs. TOR (season series: 8-6 NY), 3 games at TB (season series: 8-7 NY) and a 3 game finale at BAL (season serie:s 8-7 Orioles). They play four at home and end the season with 6 on the road.
Both NY (50-27) and BOS (47-28) have great home records.
The Twins could salvage a crappy season by bumping the Sox to the AL wild card. That wouldn't make up for '67 but it would feel good, just the same, especially if it happened on the last day of the season at Fenway.
I got to go to the game last night as an unexpected treat...someone else's unused season tickets. I'm so glad this was my last game, instead of that crappy one against Detroit on Sunday. Cuddy & Kubel's homeruns were beautiful. My son got to see Glen Perkins strike out Sammy Sosa, and he was a new baby that summer Sosa hit about a million homers. I hope they play Kubel every game next year, whether in left field or as DH, I don't care. I think he's only going to get better.
Dang, that game was fun!
It was nice seeing Garza pitch that well and get into the 7th. Perkins was impressive, but I do worry about how he short-arms his pitches. The Kubel Home Run was a rocket.
Anyway, Nick N. if you get a chance, can you e-mail me your FB picks. I'm still unable to get internet at my new place.
and yeah, Lis over Peterson still, but without giving too much away, Peterson should be in the next installment.
SethSpeaks.net
Garza pitched a nice game yesterday, and Slowey did two nights before as well.
Both of them have a lot to learn, but definitely have a ton of upside.
One thing they'll need to work on is not getting into so many full counts so early in the game. Both have had problems with their "pitch count" too early and too often.
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